I agree and disagree kid. We didn't get fair value, but we were backed into a corner and got the best return possible. It was no secret Jordan was moving on after this season since he expressed his desire to play a more prominent role with a team, and he wanted to play with his brothers. We got a true 3rd line, good defensive center, a blue chip prospect who's young and still in college, and a #8 overall pick. Couldn't have asked for much more. Additionally, I hear we were offered more from Toronto for Staal, but we sent him to Carolina since that is where he wanted to go. Classy move on our part.
Hated to see us move Z though. I'd have rather seen Martin move than Z, but we got a decent return for him also. This opens up a spot or 2 on defense for Despres to move in. It also freed up some $6 million in cap space, so now we can actually be a player for a free agent or 2. I'd love to see Sullivan come back though. He had a great year for us and helped greatly on the pp. Gonna be a lot more interesting now when July 1st rolls around.

I think you got a fine return on him. Two blue chippers plus the comps between Staal and Sutter aren't that far off. Sutter's only a year younger and has had to develop on a much worse team. He doesn't score at the rate Staal has, but also hasn't been injured as much as Staal has.

To be honest, Staal's entire career has been "what if he had the chance?" Great position for a player to be in, because he hasn't proven anything yet but everyone seems to think he will.

I like the trade personally. Staal was going to walk and the Pens would have gotten nothing in return. Now at least we got 1 good asset back, with the possibility of 3.
Now if we could only get a bag of pucks for Paul Martin!

Don't know much about the drafted pick, but you guys are going to love Sutter. A true professional, great leader and great hockey smarts. I honestly cannot say enough good things about him. He will be the perfect number 3 center, behind Crosby and Malkin, for years to come. Dumoulin is a big kid with some offensive ability. He's won 2 Frozen Fours with BC and is ready for the NHL. Great prospect and projects to a top 4 defenceman. I think this is a win-win trade for everyone. Canes got someone to play with Eric Staal and the Pens got the perfect replacement for Jordan in Sutter plus 2 top defensive prospects, with Dumoulin ready to play now.

Pens still actively shopping Martin. That one is going to cost us though, as any team taking him on will want something else in return.
Could a play for Parise be in the works? Sid and he are good friends, and with Staal and Z off the books, if we can dump Martin as well, that would free up $11 million of cap space. Can you picture our top two lines if that were to happen? Sid-Parise-Dupuis and Geno-Neal-Kunitz. WOW!!!!
Still looking for that d-man to play with Letang though.

Not feeling great about the off-season. We lose Staal (which is a year earlier than we would have lost him), gain Sutter and an extra #1 (help years away), and lose out on Parise and Suter. Plus we still have that pylon that is Paul Martin on the books. Ouch.

Rumour yesterday was that Ottawa was kicking his tires and I hoped NOT.

All I can say is we had Kovalev here and that **** gets into everything. No matter how stand-up your players are, how disciplined, when you have one guy on the team who's only in it for himself, that ****** vibe brings everyone else down.

The team has to be ready, at the first sign of malcontent, to throw him off the bus.

For Sidney Crosby, a by-product of the NHL's lockout is an inordinate amount of free time.Construction of a new house in Sewickley has occupied a portion of that time as well as other activities, such as attending concerts at Consol Energy Center.Dek hockey can be added to that list of time-fillers as well.Stories surfaced on Twitter and Facebook late Friday and early Saturday that Crosby participated in a dek hockey game Friday at Dek Star, a rink in Ohio Township next to Interstate 279. Photos on Twitter showed Crosby dressed in goaltender gear. After an informal practice Monday at Southpointe, Crosby confirmed he moonlighted between the pipes."My buddy plays in the league there. I talked to him about playing," Crosby said. "I played a lot of goalie in street hockey growing up and stuff. Just asked if he needed a goalie. He said sure and I came out. It was cool."Due to his equipment, the presence of hockey's most recognizable figure was not known by those at the rink until late in the contest."I had all the [goaltending] gear on," Crosby said. "I was talking to the ref once toward the end of the game and I think he recognized me.""My referee walked over just to kind of say, 'Hey, you're not the normal goalie. It's about time they get a goalie.' " said Chris Evans, general manager of Dek Star. "Instead, he looked at him and he was like, 'Holy [cow] that's Sidney Crosby.' ""The other team played against him for an hour and had no idea. They didn't even know until I told them until after he left."Crosby, who has been limited to 22 games last season due to injuries, expressed no concern at the prospect of suffering any additional ailments."It's a hockey ball and I have ice hockey gear on. I'm not too worried about it," he said. "I guess there's always a chance. I wouldn't take that risk if I thought it was a big one."Crosby, who regularly plays goaltender in street hockey (or road hockey as it's called in Canada) games in the offseason, earned a shutout, 4-0, Friday in his one and only game. Ever the team player, he credited his teammates with his success."I didn't have one shot. My team was really good defensively."